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>Chapter 6. Graph Overview</H1
><P
>			Almost everything in Cacti is somehow related to a graph. At any time, you can list all available
			graphs by clicking on the <SPAN
CLASS="GUILABEL"
>Graph Management</SPAN
> menu item. While it is possible to
			manually create graphs through this screen, new users should follow the instructions provided in the
			next chapter for creating new graphs in Cacti.
		</P
><P
>			For users that are familiar with <A
HREF="http://www.rrdtool.org/"
TARGET="_top"
><SPAN
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>RRDTool</SPAN
>
			</A
>, you will immediately recognize that a graph in Cacti is closely modeled after <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>RRDTool</SPAN
>'s graphs.
			This makes sense since Cacti provides a user friendly interface to <SPAN
CLASS="APPLICATION"
>RRDTool</SPAN
> without requiring users to
			understand how <SPAN
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>RRDTool</SPAN
> works. With this in mind, every graph in Cacti has certain settings and at least
			one graph item associated with it. While graph settings define the overall properties of a graph, the graph
			items define the data that is to be represented on the graph. So the graph items define which data to display
			and how it should displayed, and also define what should be displayed on the legend.
		</P
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>			Each graph and graph item has a set of parameters which control various aspects of the graph.
			Fortunately through the use of graph templates, it is not necessary to understand the function
			of each field to create graphs for your network. When you are ready to take on the task of
			creating your own graph templates, extensive field descriptions for both graphs and graph items
			are provided in that section of the manual.
		</P
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